Minesweeping activities will be among the 42 proposed steps that Japan would take to assist U.S. forces in case of war in Asia now that the ruling parties have reached a consensus.
The parties also agreed to restrict information to U.S. forces if it would directly benefit U.S. military attacks. The agreements came at a August 26 meeting on the ongoing update of the 1978 Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines.
The legislators failed, however, to solve several key issues, the thorniest of which is the scope of the geographical area surrounding Japan, but are continuing discussions to try to produce a confirmation paper.